How Water Moves

Where water moves affects how fast it moves and where it goes. Surface water moving rapidly can lift and scour sediment, eliminating topsoil. Surfaces like concrete that prevent water from soaking into the ground send it quickly through storm sewers to streams, rivers, and in our case the Gulf of Mexico, causing problems downstream with flooding and contamination like sediment. We can slow it down by inviting it to stay using plants, earthworks, and tanks, at all scales. This keeps the water available for local transpiration, evaporation, condensation, and new precipitation.